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Tuesday, 7 November 2017

TRAVEL TUESDAY #104 - MACHU PICCHU, PERU

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.” - Neil Armstrong

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Machu Picchu is a
15th-century Inca citadel situated on a mountain ridge 2,430 metres above sea
level. In the Quechua language, machu means “old”, while pikchu means “peak;
mountain or prominence with a broad base that ends in sharp peaks”, hence the
name of the site means “old peak”. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba
Province, Machupicchu District in Peru, above the Sacred Valley, which is 80
kilometres northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most
archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as an estate for the
Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472).

During its use
as a royal estate, it is estimated that no more than 750 people lived there at
a time, most people being support staff (yanaconas, yana) who lived there
permanently. Though the estate belonged to Pachacuti, religious specialists and
temporary specialised workers (mayocs) lived there as well, most likely for the
ruler’s well-being and enjoyment. During the harsher season, staff dropped down
to around a hundred servants and a few religious specialists focused only on
maintenance.

Often mistakenly
referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas” (a title more accurately applied to
Vilcabamba), it is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. The Incas built
the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the
Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish
during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until
American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.

Machu Picchu was
built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three
primary structures are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of
the Three Windows. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in
order to give tourists a better idea of how they originally appeared. By 1976,
thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored and restoration continues.
Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historic Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New
Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll.

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Welcome to Nicholas V's Blog on Blogger

I have been blogging daily on this platform for several years now. It is surprising that I have persisted as the world is changing and "microblogging" is now the norm. I blog to amuse myself, make comment on current affairs, externalise some of my creativity, keep notes on things that interest me, learn something new and to surprise myself with things that I discover about this wonderful, and sometimes crazy, world we live in.

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